


Faith in Bones

by HaziestShade



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Edelgard is pissed, F/F, Silver Snow!Edelgard, Unrequited Edeleth, Unrequited Love, silver snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:29:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24694537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaziestShade/pseuds/HaziestShade
Summary: On the eve of her final battle with Byleth Edelgard finds an unlikely compainon in Rhea.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	Faith in Bones

She walked into the hidden chamber. It was stone, small, ten by ten, a bed, a desk, books, whatever else the former bishop requests, no chains, Edelgard would not inflict that pain on anyone else. 

Ordinarily, a servant would bring Rhea her meal but Edelgard had ordered the servants to flee. Only the soldiers and herself remain. She turned, ready to ask Hubert to hold the door only to be greeted by silence. She clutched the plate tight with one hand wrenching the door open.

_ Hubert.  _ In her mind’s eye she was a small shy boy with black curls, she saw her shadow and servant, a man she had always wished to make her friend. That would never come to pass, Byleth had slain him personally it was said and thinking of Byleth, her Byleth, slaying her dearest ally made her ache with unshed tears.

She walked down the steps, the darkness enveloping her, just as it had when she was a child.

_ “You.” _ Rhea hissed, staring at her with hatred as she approached. “Have you come to free me? Repent for your sins? If you free me now you might one day find some shred of atonement.” Rhea said harshly. 

Edelgard smiled tautly. “I’ve come to bring you your meal, I have no interest in repentance.” She said firmly. Rhea’s meal was filling and well cooked. Edelgard had seen to that personally when the war had begun. Her cell was comfortable and well lit if not lavish and yet the archbishop refused to eat. She screamed and wailed in the night, a spell from those that slither keeps her from her true form rendering her fury impotent.

She left the plate and pitcher on her desk. Unconcerned that Rhea might strike at her. Within the cell Rhea was powerless. She wondered how it felt, a being of her strength to be brought to the level of those she had once ruled. 

If Byleth had her way, she would soon find out. Yet she knew there would be no cell for her, never again would she be shackled.  _ Never again _ .

“You must eat Lady Rhea.” Edelgard said, turning to go. “Your believers care about your fate. They would grieve if you died.” She said, cooly.  **_She_ ** _ would grieve if you died.  _ A kind, gentle, face flickered before her eyes.

“What would you care about my believers?” Rhea snarled, her beautiful face twisted in loathing.

Edelgard wanted to laugh. “I care more about your believers than you ever will.” She turned, forcing the fury from her voice. “You lied to them, you used their faith, their devotion, for your own selfish ends.”

Rhea scoffed tilting her face toward the ceiling, her green eyes burning with fury. “I have never lied, my will is that of the Goddess and she  _ will  _ punish you for your transgression.” Rhea spat. 

She laughed bitterly.  _ The goddess would not save me, would not save my siblings, yet she would presume to punish me?  _ She silenced her laughter. 

Again Byleth’s face, framed by unruly green hair appeared in her mind. The few soldiers that survived the onslaught had reported that Byleth fought with inhuman power. That a single swing of her sword could destroy half a unit, that she could see the future and defeat her foes before it ever came to pass.  _ If Byleth truly is blessed by the goddess, if she truly acts by Her will, then what end is there for me but defeat?  _

She forced the thought from her mind. She had come too far to let superstition and lies sway her heart. Hubert, Ladislava, Rudolph, Emile, and countless others had died for her convictions, despair was an insult to their memories. A luxury she would never indulge. 

“The Goddess did not punish nonbelievers,  _ you  _ did.” Edelgard rebutted. The western church, Christophe, even the bandits that dared stray within sight of the knights of Seiros all fell to the church’s butchery. Rhea’s pale hands were nearly as bloody as her own.

“I punished them on the Goddess’ behalf.” She tossed her hair scornfully. “To point one’s blade at the heavens will only be answered in kind, know that  _ Empress _ .” 

Fury rose in her like tendrils of flame. “The church turns it’s blade on all who dare challenge it’s hegemony. You are the bolt that keeps Fodlan’s people in shackles. Peasants live and die in starvation and ignorance, noble girls are kept as broodmares for their crests, bastards are turned onto the street for their  _ lack  _ of crests, noble families tear at each other from within to seize power within your twisted game! Are you blind to their suffering? Deaf to their prayers? or are you merely indifferent? Answer me that,  _ Archbishop _ .”

Rhea looked at her scornfully. “I am not all-knowing and prayers are for the goddess’ ears alone.”

“So is it the goddess’ will that bandits ravage villages, that commoners be impoverished, that children suffer alone?” Whispered prayers echoed in her mind, furtive desperate things recited in the darkness below Enbarr. Agnes had clung to her hand and they had prayed with all her heart for salvation. She had awoken to darkness, Agnes’ hand cold and stiff against her’s, and the chittering of rats.

Edelgard grasped the bars, her knuckles white. “You made them believe they would be saved, you gave them  _ hope,  _ have you ever...ever felt hope die, ever felt true helplessness of being alone, of being  _ abandoned? _ ” Her voice was tense and harsh and she felt as though she was burning inside. 

Something passed over Rhea’s face, an almost vulnerable look that disappeared quick enough she was not sure she hadn’t imagined it. When she looked back Rhea wore a look of condescending tranquility. 

“I have not been abandoned, Byleth is coming for me.”

Edelgard released the bars. _Hubert, Emile, Agnes, Ladislava, Father, all gone and even she..._ Edelgard clutched at her heart. It should not hurt, the betrayal of one of Rhea’s own kind, and yet her heart _seized_ in agony when she thought of Byleth. 

Something had broken then, the moment that Byleth had turned on her, sword in hand. She had known then there would be no redemption for her, known that hope and faith were crueler traps than any the Agarthians had created. Stupid girl, how stupid she had been to ever believe that Byleth could have been her’s. 

_ And now she comes for me. She comes for me with Dorothea, Petra, Caspar, Bernadetta, Ferdinand, and Linhardt, trailing behind like good little lambs. They come for my head and they come as Rhea’s salvation.  _

She looked to Rhea. It had been for her that Edelgard had been betrayed. She hated her for that and a million other crimes as she turned from Rhea she hated the others as well.

She hated them for being gullible, compliant, ignorant, pawns of a  _ monster.  _ For putting  _ faith  _ over logic, for butchering their own countrymen, ( _ her people), _ in the name of peace, a peace that would damn countless others identical to them, and for abandoning...abandoning…Edelgard put a steadying hand on the wall. 

She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing. She should not hate her eagles, no more than she hated any other victim of Rhea’s, they had committed no sin worse than her own. Faith had led them into Rhea’s clutches and hope in Rhea’s restoration had brought them to Edelgard’s gates.

She bit her lip hard, tasting blood. Hate was unbecoming for an empress, was monstrous to hold. The thoughts she had savored of torture, of the death and despair of Thales, of Aegir, and  _ yes _ , of Rhea were further proof that she was damned.

She stood, opening her eyes. Her tears had run dry long ago so why did her cheeks feel wet? 

She wished that Hubert was there to steady her, that Agnes was there to distract her, that her father was there to embrace her, that Byleth was...She forced the thought from her mind. Wishing was pointless. All of her closest allies were dead or as good as to her.

She turned back to Rhea, trying not to hate her for the righteous smile that graced her lips. “Will you pray for my defeat, Archbishop?” She asked, bitterness creeping into her voice.

Rhea laughed coolly. “I need not pray, the Goddess herself has come for me.”

Edelgard clenched her fists and a bitter burst of laughter fled her throat. “Then you must pray, Archbishop, pray that Sothis,” She spat the true name of the goddess. “Does not leave you to suffer like so many others.” In a flash she saw Byleth slaying Hubert, her wild blue hair, his green eyes desperate, and the sword of bones red with his blood. 

If that was the will of the Goddess if the fate of her siblings was the will of the goddess, then she would fight with all her strength to free Fodlan from her grasp.

She ascended the stairs, tears falling like stars across her cheeks, she imagined Byleth wiping away her tears, brushing away a lock of her hair. 

“It will be alright.” The phantom Byleth whispered, then drove her sword into Edelgard’s heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I've been uninspired for awhile so I wrote this to get me back into the groove. Hopefully y'all like it.  
> Silver Snow El breaks my heart and Rhea is a hypocrite imo, so if you agree with that, you'll like this.  
> Please leave any comments/critiques below


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